The media likes to focus so much on gender politics, so it’s interesting (to me at least) to look at how women are actually voting in the primaries.
Florida
Exit polls show Republican voters in Florida were split evenly between men and women, and both sexes voted for business mogul Donald Trump. Fifty-two percent of men and 40 percent of women voted for the casino magnate. That’s a whopping 30-point gap over second-place finisher Marco Rubio, the state’s senator, with men. Just 22 percent of men voted for the Florida senator. The gap with women, however, was narrower, with 33 percent voting for Rubio.
As has been the norm for Democrats, more women voted than men. Fifty-nine percent of Democratic Florida primary voters were women while 41 percent were men. Both sexes voted overwhelmingly for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sixty-one percent of men and 68 percent of women voted for Clinton, while 38 percent of men and 30 percent of women voted or her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Illinois
Again, GOP primary voters were split evenly between the sexes, and both went for Trump. Forty-three percent of men and 35 percent of women voted for Trump. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz came in second, which a much narrower gap than Rubio had in Florida. Thirty percent of men and 31 percent of women voted for Cruz, marking one of the few times the Texas senator received more votes from women than men.
It also means the gap between the two candidates among women was narrower than it was among men, 4 points to 13 points, respectively.
More women than men voted in the Democratic primary, 54 percent compared to 46 percent. Here the genders split on who they favored, with 55 percent of women voting for Clinton but 53 percent of men voting for Sanders. Forty-five percent of men favored Clinton, and 45 percent of women favored Sanders.
Missouri
Missouri may face a recount for Republican and Democrat primaries, since the results were too close to call, but we can still look at the exit polls.
Slightly more Republican men voted Tuesday night in the state than Republican women, 52 percent to 48 percent. Men favored Trump (44 percent) but women favored Cruz (43 percent). Thirty-eight percent of women voted for Trump and 39 percent of men voted for Cruz. The only other candidate to break 10 percent with either sex was Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who won 11 percent of the men’s vote (but just 9 percent of the women’s vote).
The Democratic primary in Missouri was 55 percent women and 45 percent men. Again, the sexes split on who they favored, with 56 percent of men voting for Sanders and 54 percent of women voting for Clinton. Forty-four percent of men voted for Clinton while 44 percent of women voted for Sanders.
North Carolina
For the first time that I’ve seen, more women than men voted in the Republican primary. It was a slight gap, with 51 percent of primary voters being women an 49 percent being men, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it happen. Men favored Trump (44 percent), but women split evenly for Trump and Cruz at 37 percent.
More Democratic women voted than men, as usual, with 57 percent of primary voters made up of women and 43 percent made up of men. Both sexes favored Clinton, but men split nearly evenly for Sanders. Forty-nine percent of men voted for Clinton, while 47 percent voted for Sanders. The gap for women was much wider, with 60 percent voting for Clinton and just 36 percent voting for Sanders.
Ohio
The Ohio Republican primary was made up of 51 percent men and 49 percent women, and both sexes voted for Kasich. He won 46 percent of men and 48 percent of women (he is one of the few Republican candidates other than Rubio whose vote consistently came more from women than men). Trump came in second in the state, with 39 percent of the male vote and 33 percent of the women’s vote.
Fifty-eight percent of Democratic primary voters were women and 42 percent were men. Again, the sexes split on the candidates, with women once again favoring Clinton (63 percent) and men once again favoring Sanders (51 percent). Forty-eight percent of men favored Clinton while just 36 percent of women favored Sanders.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
